February 21, 2018
By - Kalan Foster
Space Tourism
Space tourism is slowly becoming a reality for space enthusiasts and explorers all over the world. In the 1960’s, the idea was explored by several different companies. During the development of the Saturn V, NASA was exploring the future possibilities of space transportation and tourism. NASA was developing the first space shuttle for an expedition to the moon. The development of space tourism has been slow due to the lack of funding and the risks associated with space travel. In 1969, the first moon expeditions were successful, and Neil Armstrong was the first man to land on the moon.
NASA was making great progress until tragedy struck in 1986, the booster engine failed which lead to the death of seven team members (“Remembering the Challenger Crew”, 2015, March 09. The tragedy was so great that they decided to step away from space tourism temporarily out of the respect they had for the crew and their family members. Two years prior Congress established the Commercial Space Launch Act in 1984, which addressed many concerns the public had with these types of programs. The government wanted these programs heavily regulated; this law addressed the basic requirement for licensing and insurance, to a type of facilities that were required, and all programs required governmental authorization. After the accident, they changed this policy and limited the role of Commercial flight operations carried out by NASA. Flight exploration is very dangerous, I believe that the technology needs to be mastered prior to space exploration to reduce the amount casualties. The other laws that went into effect were the Commercial Space Act of 1998 and Commercial Space Transportation Competitiveness Act in 2000. These two rules increased government control and regulations, space exploration is very dangerous and it should be taken very seriously.
- The Challenger Crew
After the 1960’s, there has been a total of 550 people who have traveled in space. Most of those people were trained for two years, but between the years of 2001-2009, some of the expeditions were tourism flights (“how many people,” 2016, March 02). Jeff Benzo, Blue origins founder, was one of the first to develop a space tourism program. The program is still in development and Jeff has stated that they plan on launching tourists into space as soon as 2019 (“Blue Origin CEO”, n.d.). Tesla is also working with SpaceX, they’re projecting that they will start launching passengers in the fourth quarter of 2018 (“Blue Origin CEO”, n.d.). I believe space exploration will be possible very soon and the initial trips will be very expensive. I believe if there aren’t any major accidents that these space tourism programs will be very accessible and affordable to the public in the next decade. I would compare space exploration to skydiving, people who are brave enough will experience it and if its something they love they will invest money and time. I think that maybe in the next century space exploration as a means of transportation will be very possible, technology is always advancing.
The qualification to work in the space tourism is very minimal, you are only required to have and private pilot certification, and sub-orbital training.
Sub-orbital training consists of the following:
- Hypobaric altitude chamber testing
- Hands-on training on Star City's many simulators.
- Orlan space suit training.
- Centrifuge training
- Vestibular training
- Personal zero-gravity flight
It takes approximately two years of flight training to become certified. I spoke with a representative from the Yankee Air Museum, I know him personally. He told me that It very difficult to enter this field because it's so specialized, he also told me a degree in physics makes it easier to be recognized by potential employers.
Refrences
Good Question: How Many People Have Gone To Space? (2016, March 02). Retrieved February 22, 2018, from http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2016/03/02/good-question-astronauts/
Smith, B. (n.d.). Blue Origin CEO: We're taking tourists to space within 18 months. Retrieved February 22, 2018, from http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/05/technology/future/blue-origin-launch-human-space-tourism/index.html
Administrator, N. C. (2015, March 09). Remembering the Challenger Crew. Retrieved February 22, 2018, from https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_gallery_2437.html
Kalan,
ReplyDeleteIts really intriguing on how much people are interested in showing the public space travel. Personally I think it would be an awesome venture to be sent up in the stratosphere and being able to see what is out there. On the opposite end, I do believe that this could be short lived because people might see this as a once in a lifetime event. Once they experienced it, I don't believe that they will want to go up again unless they are curious about the job. Its also really cool that Elon Musk, Richard Branson, and Jeff Bezos are all making this happen which was considered unobtainable back then. I also think its pretty cool that you know someone that has a little bit of a background of space travel and am intrigued to know more.
First let me say, I enjoyed the layout of your blog. It made it very easy for me to follow through with your post.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, we have very similar viewpoints on what the commercial space industry. I think the most vital events in this industry was the Space Shuttle program. The frequent travel for maintenance and goods was the main goal and, it was clearly done.
Kalan,
ReplyDeleteYour ideas in your blog related a lot to mine, which made this a very enjoyable and relatable read for me. I really stressed on how commercial space tourism sort of took a halt when the shuttle program tragedies took place, especially when they had civilians on board. As for the technology, we are seeing positive forward steps especially with the recurrent Spacex launches that happen frequently and are been reusable.